


Pretty in Ink

by DinosaurGummies



Category: Supernatural
Genre: BDSM, Castiel's Handprint (Supernatural), Comfortably Bisexual Dean Winchester, Dom Castiel/Sub Dean Winchester, Established Castiel/Dean Winchester, Handprint Kink (Supernatural), M/M, Pain, Sub Dean Winchester, Tattooed Dean Winchester, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-15 02:48:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28931274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DinosaurGummies/pseuds/DinosaurGummies
Summary: A little bit of Dean getting a very special tattoo...
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Comments: 5
Kudos: 62
Collections: Dean/Cas Tropefest 2021 Mid-Winter 5k





	Pretty in Ink

**Author's Note:**

> Getting this in just under the wire, because I had two ideas for combining 'BDSM' and 'handprint', and I wanted to write both.

The anticipation is just buzzing under every inch of his skin as he waits for his appointment, Cas’ hand heavy on the back of his neck, warm and reassuring. 

“Are you nervous?”

“Nah. Excited.” He flashes Cas a quick little smile. “A little… like… this place is _nice_. When I got my, you know, it was… uh, it wasn’t nice like this.”

It had been a back room, and it had been clean enough, and he’d been young, and he’d understood going in that he wasn’t going to have his hand held. But he’d liked it. He knew how to handle pain before he got his tattoo, and anyway, it was… It came with a rush, and the vibrations sent these mixed signals to his brain, so it didn’t exactly feel like pain while it was happening. 

This place is like… _spotless_ , and there’s nice art up on the walls. Sure, it’s still all tattoo themed, as it should be, but like… it’s not just tattered sheets from a flash book pinned to the wall, and maybe a little cheesecake, it’s _art_. Sure, there are some cool flash examples framed behind the register, but there’s also a couple of real paintings. Not like… shitty classy paintings, like a trippy melting astronaut in one and a badass unicorn in another, and a naked chick rising out of the water, but it’s in a swamp… okay, he doesn’t get that one, beyond ‘naked chick’, but it’s good, like… it’s Frazetta-y.

He and Cas get escorted over to a chair by a tiny gal with a cloud of silvery-blue dyed hair, in ripped jeans and a band shirt, and one of her arms has some kind of weird cool medusa, and a bee-themed tattoo that makes him think of Cas, which makes him feel like he can trust her. ‘99 Problems’ runs around her wrist in a delicate script, green ink vivid against her skin. Given that the place is called ‘99 Problems Ink’, he can only figure she’s the owner.

He strips out of his jacket and his flannel shirt, and Cas gently folds both and places them on a nearby folding chair. 

“This your first?” 

“Second.” He shakes his head. “But my first in a long time.”

“Yeah? What brought you in?”

“Finally feel passionate about something. Guess it’s… been a while. Or…” Or his entire life, but hey. The woman’s a tattoo artist, not a therapist.

“Your boyfriend told me about what you’re looking for, when he made the appointment. The handprint.” She says, over her shoulder, as she gets some music going-- Zepp, which Cas must have also told her. Had she asked if he had any favorite music she should play to put him at ease, or had Cas volunteered the information?

“Yeah. It’s kind of… I just want his mark on me.” He smiles up at Cas, winks at him because no matter how take-charge and sure Cas gets when they’re alone and he’s in Dom-mode, he still goes all cute about it when Dean winks at him. “Kind of a… reminder, of when we met.”

“I grabbed him. To, uh… save his life.” Cas adds. It’s close enough for telling strangers.

“Been saving it ever since.” Dean grins. “You didn’t count on that when you grabbed me.”

“I was not… terribly surprised by it. You were a pleasure to grab. And anyway… we’ve been saving each other.”

“Yeah. Guess so.”

She wipes his shoulder down first, alcohol pad cold against his skin, before Cas carefully turns up his sleeve and takes a little ink pad to his hand. He wraps it around Dean’s shoulder, just as he must have done the very first time. He folds his clean hand into Dean’s, they both squeeze once, before the artist readies her tattoo gun. 

Dean winds up squeezing down when she starts, but it’s not bad, it’s the good kind of pain. The first time, he got a little lightheaded by the end, but this time it’s…

It’s _bliss_. The whole time the needle buzzes against his shoulder, Cas is holding his hand and fussing over him, murmuring his litany of soft praises. He strokes Dean’s brow with the backs of his knuckles, to avoid staining his face with ink. 

He only takes his hand from Dean’s to be able to help him sip a little water, and to feed him Good and Plenty, from a box he’d had in one of the big pockets of his trench coat. Dean kisses at his fingertips, before holding up his hand to silently demand it be held again.

“My most beloved friend.” Cas murmurs, and brings it up to his lips. “Are you doing all right?”

“ _Ohhh yeahhh_ …” Dean sighs, head lolling against the chair.

Everything’s a sweet haze, Cas fussing over him and the buzz of the needle, and the pain-not-pain. Finally, he’s done, and the artist holds up a mirror.

There’s Cas’ handprint, yes. In the little blank at the center of his palm, a C in brilliant blue, a D in forest green, their elaborate flourishes intertwined. In tiny tawny gold script in the space between palm and fingers, symbols in Enochian that Cas must have shown her. Another line runs in black beneath the heel of his hand, like a bracelet.

He can’t read them in the mirror, and he doesn’t know if he could read them the right way around anyway, but it takes his breath away to see them. 

It’s only after they’re back home, when he’s admiring it again in their own mirror, that he asks Cas what it says. 

“It’s a rough translation.” Cas smiles, taking Dean’s chin in hand, and tilting him in to be kissed. “I think you’ll know the sentiment best as… ‘I am the one who gripped you tight, and raised you from perdition’. And, of course, below, in the reverse… Never forget, when I saved you, I was saved also, Beloved. Never forget, taking you in my keeping is what set me free.”

“Love it.” Dean melts into his grip, the way he so often does, and Cas steers him to the bed and lays him out. “Love you.”

“Perhaps… you will design a tattoo for me, next. So that I have your permanent mark upon me, too.”


End file.
